In preparation for Hurricane Milton, most Florida ports, including Tampa and Sarasota, ceased all vessel traffic on October 8th. Concurrently, several South Carolina terminals, such as Charleston, implemented navigation restrictions. JAXPORT announced that inbound cargo operations at its main gates would halt at 10 a.m. local time on October 9th, with the port to fully close shortly thereafter. JAXPORT is also scheduled to be closed on October 10th. The port anticipates reopening its Main Gates on the morning of Friday, October 11th, contingent upon successful facility assessments. The National Hurricane Center reported that Milton had weakened to a Category 4 hurricane, tracking east-northeast with maximum sustained winds of 145 mph (230 km/h) on Tuesday, prior to its expected landfall in Florida on Wednesday.